Getting Closer to Your Children through Reading Stories to Them
October 15, 2005
 
I just got back from a workshop conducted by our MK (Married with Kids) ministry. This is an event sponsored by the Church to reinforce MK𠏋 initiative--𨧻SO Fatherhood� Program. Mrs. Chiang Yu Chuan was invited to give the MK fathers a two and a half hour of talk with the aid of many story books she brought with her. Here are my notes from the talk:
The 15-30 minutes before their bedtime is a time when they are most open to engage in deeper communication. This is a perfect opportunity to read stories to them to set the tone for such engagement.
Story books with few words are perfect to read to little children under 10 for these reasons:
l They allow creativity and free association to engage the minds through interactions between parents and children.
l The atmosphere is conducive to parents giving praises and verbal positive reinforcements to our children, and they usually don㦙 get enough of those.
l Through the telling and interpretation of storyline and the characters, the parents can shape the characters and provide values for the children.
l The cuddling that takes place when reading to the small children increases body contact that enhances bonding and affirmation, and the lack of which hinders most children from growing up to become affectionate and expressive.
l Father𠏋 physical touch that provides security and affirmation is especially important in the lives of young daughters. When they don㦙 get enough, they could grow up looking for such comfort source in the form of boy friends or even sexual intimacy.
I would like to encourage all dads out there to read to their kids, cuddle them in your strong arms, and heaps verbal affirmations on them. Fatherhood is actually not that difficult, if we just commit ourselves to the little things, (and leave the 弎ig� things to God.)
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